1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a design of a solar concentrator which concentrates the solar light into a region for energy generation.
2. Related Art
Because the natural resources, such as the oil, coal and the like, are gradually depleted, the number of researches and development projects relating to solar energy applications are growing more rapidly than ever. However, the solar energy technology still has some drawbacks, such as the relatively lower energy conversion efficiency and the higher cost compared with the other conventional energy generation methods. So, it is an important goal to increase the utilization efficiency of the solar energy and decrease the solar energy per watt cost.
In order to enhance the solar utilization efficiency, it is proposed to use a solar concentrator combined with a light guide module, in which the sunlight is guided by the guiding element and conducted to the solar cell or heat conducting element to increase the solar energy collection efficiency, and thus to enhance the efficiency of the solar energy conversion device. The conventional concentrated solar energy conversion system uses the solar concentrator to converge the incident sunlight to a focused spot where the solar cell is placed nearby to absorb most energy with a smaller solar cell area to reduce the cost thereof. However, the long back focal distance of the concentrating optics increases the requirement of space volume of the conventional concentrated solar energy conversion device, thereby increasing the overall system weight and wind loading force. Therefore, the back focal distance of the solar concentrator not only increases the system space volume and the costs, but also causes the larger mounting area, and the solar energy conversion device needs the precise movement and control of the solar tracking.
Therefore, it is an important subject to provide a solar concentrator, which is advantageously thin so that the solar concentrator has the zero back focal distance and is adapted to various applications.